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Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, and read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters. For media inquiries, please email us.

Effects of Replicating Charter Schools in Boston, Massachusetts

Researchers studied a policy reform in Boston, Massachusetts, that allowed effective charter schools to replicate their school models at new locations. Results showed that charter schools reproduced their effectiveness at new campuses by following similar sets of standardized protocols...

Reducing Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions through Energy Efficient Retrofits: Evidence from Low-Income Households

Researchers evaluated the impact of a residential energy efficiency program on energy savings and carbon emissions in the United States. They found that energy savings equaled only about half of the upfront cost of the program, which were far less than projected.

The Impacts of Mental Health Treatment on Productivity in India

Researchers evaluated the impact of providing depression treatment and economic assistance on mental health and economic behavior in peri-urban communities near Bangalore, India. Treatment reduced depression severity, a benefit that persisted when paired with light-touch livelihoods assistance, but...

Constraints to Saving for Health Expenditures in Kenya

Researchers introduced four savings devices to estimate the relative importance of different potential barriers to health savings. Results indicate that just providing a safe place to keep money led to a large increase in health savings. These results suggest that simply labeling funds for a...

Improving Women’s Labor and Welfare Outcomes through Microfinance in Uganda

Researchers in rural Western Uganda tested whether a microfinance program can help women borrowers switch out of subsistence agriculture to other labor activities, such as entrepreneurship or small-scale trading. While microloans helped women switch into service-based jobs including small-scale...

Groupements de Créateurs: Encouraging Youth Entrepreneurship in France

Nila Ceci-Renaud
Elise Huillery
Researchers evaluated the impact of a program aiming to develop the autonomy and decision-making skills of young people interested in starting a company or organization. They found that the program had positive impacts on the employment status, income, and overall confidence of the participants.

Performance Incentives for Commercial Bank Loan Officers to Improve Effort on Risk-Assessment and Lending Decisions in India

Martin Kanz
Leora Klapper
Researchers partnered with a commercial bank in India to study the effect of paying loan officers according to the performance of their loans on the quality of their lending decisions. Loan officers working under this incentive scheme exerted greater screening effort, approved fewer loans, and...

Gender-specific managerial training program and firm productivity in Colombia

Researchers are evaluating the impact of providing a gender-specific managerial training program on career advancement prospects for women and workplace productivity.